Where Missionary Work Is Needed

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 3, 1914

Where Missionary Work Is Needed

HAVING served seventeen months behind prison bars but being now at liberty, I deem it my duty to call attention to the need of missionary work in the penitentiaries of our country. It is true that some Seventh-day Adventists visit jails and take literature to the inmates; but did you ever hear of any gospel work in the penitentiaries? There may be one or two isolated cases where it is carried on, but such opportunities are generally neglected. There are fifty thousand prisoners in the penitentiaries of the United States. Are they to be neglected? Shall they not have an opportunity to learn this truth through our literature or from our workers? I have conversed with some of the most hardened criminals that this world has ever seen, and not one of them ever heard an Adventist minister within the prison walls, or had the opportunity of reading any of the literature published by this denomination.

Does this state of affairs exist because Adventists are barred? The answer is emphatically, No. Any minister that offers his services is cordially received by the warden and chaplain.

There were nine hundred and fifty prisoners serving time in the penitentiary in which I was incarcerated, and two thirds of them are young men in the prime of life. They enjoy heart-to-heart talks much more than eloquent sermons. They appreciate experiences from everyday life; and from these experiences spiritual lessons can often be drawn. Dear readers, I appeal to you. Ought these things so to be? I know that if our people realized the importance of this work, they would not neglect it longer. I could relate many heart-rending experiences that would show you what a penitentiary really is, and convince you that the tortures of Siberian exile are duplicated in some of our American penal institutions. However, my object in calling your attention to this matter is that it may be the means of inspiring a believer here and there to do a little missionary work where it is so much needed.